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The strangest thing that happened to me in a personal sense from traveling at that time, was my attitude change, from being slightly anti - American to born - again patriot, when I crossed back into the USA. We thought the police were bad in the US but to witness what went on in Brazil and South Africa made our police look like boy scouts. Out of control parties in Brazil were simply tear gassed, surfers in South Africa and their US visitors stepped into a police state complete with integrated informants and police raids. I was detained and lectured about media, just for taking surfing photos.
My surfboard industry friends in Brazil were being crushed by lawless commerce, stifling taxes and inept bureaucracy. The military in Bali had just confiscated all of the locals beach front acres, so the junta could build all of the large hotels. No court dates to argue about the cases, just armored vehicles, along with troops and threats, ended any dissension. So I realized that when it all came down to it, the USA was unique because we were a nation of laws that protected the weak. No where else I traveled during that time seemed to have that.
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